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OTTUMWA — There aren't many junior college basketball teams that have made more trips in March to central Kansas than the Indian Hills Warriors.
In fact, only five other programs have made it to at least 20 national tournaments. It just so happens that Indian Hills will open its 20th national tournament facing one of those programs.
Vincennes opened its record-setting 39th NJCAA national tournament on Saturday night, pulling away from Three Rivers for a 69-51 win to close out the first day of action at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The result sets up just the second all-time national tournament meeting between programs that have combined for 59 national tournament appearances.
No matter who awaited the Warriors on Monday night, first-year head coach Cole Dewey was happy to finally be getting on the bus with his team to make the trip to Hutchinson. It's a trip that's been several months in the making.
"We've been anticipating this for awhile now. We've had a long month with games every Saturday and hard practices in between," Dewey said. "We're excited and we're glad it's finally here."
Indian Hills (27-5) has spent most of the week getting their skills honed to a fine edge only knowing that it would be either Vincennes or Three Rivers that would be their opening opponent. The Warriors left Ottumwa on Saturday morning for Kansas making it down in time to watch the Trailblazers win over the Raiders in person.
Aside from the scouting reports on both teams from assistant coaches Trey Rakes and Solon Ellis, Indian Hills could only spend the week on themselves. In doing so, the Warriors brought plenty of intensity to the hardwood.
"We're going as hard as we did at the start of the year," Indian Hills freshman Mason Costello said. "The intensity level has always stayed the same throughout the year. However hard we go, we choose how long we want to practice. The more intense it is, the less we've got to practice. I think that's what will put us over the edge this year."
The intensity shown by the Warriors this week preparing for the national tournament was evident enough to their head coach. According to Dewey, Indian Hills is right on schedule to be at their best heading into this year's national tournament.
"We were actually supposed to have a practice right before we took off (on Saturday morning)," Dewey said. "The guys showed me everything I needed to see on Friday. It was a battle out there. We actually had to cut practice short because of how hard the guys were getting after it. The intensity level and mental engagement is definitely there. I feel like we're ready to go."
The Warriors will need to be ready to go against a Vincennes team that ended the season ranked sixth in the national poll and appeared well on their way to joining Indian Hills as one of the top eight teams in the national tournament with a 26-3 record entering postseason play. Kaskaskia, however, stunned the top-seeded Trailblazers in the quarterfinals of the Region 24 tournament ultimately leaving Vincennes hoping for an at-large berth to extend their record run of 12 national tournament appearances in the past 13 years.
The Trailblazers, armed with a second life after receiving at at-large national tournament bid, got 18 points from Region 24's Player of the Year Lebron Thomas in Saturday night's win over Three Rivers. Michael Cooper came off the bench to add 14 points for Vincennes while Travelle Bryson added 10 points as Vincennes (27-4) gave the Warriors something of a glimpse of themselves using balanced offense and stellar defense to put away a top-quality opponent.
Of course, the way the Warriors practice, the toughest opponent all season for Indian Hills might be Indian Hills itself.
"We try to replicate how every game is going to be," Indian Hills sophomore Amonte Allen-Johnson said. "We know that we're going to be facing a physical team, so we put ourselves through a physical practice. It got us in game shape. It got us game ready."
If history is any indication, the Warriors could be in for another postseason nailbitter after pulling out a 70-66 win at No. 22 Dawson in the North Central District final back on Mar. 15. Vincennes has won five of the nine meetings all time with five of the nine meetings being decided by less than 10 points, including last season's 80-75 win earned by Indian Hills last December in the most recent meeting between the proud programs.
Of course, facing top programs is nothing new for the Warriors this season. Indian Hills has played six games against five fellow national tournament qualifiers, going 4-2 in those contests including a 76-62 win over the same Frank Phillips team that IHCC may face on Wednesday in the national quarterfinals should both teams win their second-round contests as well as a 93-88 loss to Snow, the top-ranked team in the country and the favorite going in to win the 2025 national championship.
"Snow got us in that game, but we feel pretty confident," Amonte-Johnson said. "I think our defense is our identity. We feel like we and lock teams up and make other teams miss shots. That game at Dawson was tough. They were used to scoring 100 points and they only got to 66 against us. We put on a good defensive show. I think we can do it throughout the national tournament."
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In fact, only five other programs have made it to at least 20 national tournaments. It just so happens that Indian Hills will open its 20th national tournament facing one of those programs.
Vincennes opened its record-setting 39th NJCAA national tournament on Saturday night, pulling away from Three Rivers for a 69-51 win to close out the first day of action at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The result sets up just the second all-time national tournament meeting between programs that have combined for 59 national tournament appearances.
No matter who awaited the Warriors on Monday night, first-year head coach Cole Dewey was happy to finally be getting on the bus with his team to make the trip to Hutchinson. It's a trip that's been several months in the making.
"We've been anticipating this for awhile now. We've had a long month with games every Saturday and hard practices in between," Dewey said. "We're excited and we're glad it's finally here."
Indian Hills (27-5) has spent most of the week getting their skills honed to a fine edge only knowing that it would be either Vincennes or Three Rivers that would be their opening opponent. The Warriors left Ottumwa on Saturday morning for Kansas making it down in time to watch the Trailblazers win over the Raiders in person.
Aside from the scouting reports on both teams from assistant coaches Trey Rakes and Solon Ellis, Indian Hills could only spend the week on themselves. In doing so, the Warriors brought plenty of intensity to the hardwood.
"We're going as hard as we did at the start of the year," Indian Hills freshman Mason Costello said. "The intensity level has always stayed the same throughout the year. However hard we go, we choose how long we want to practice. The more intense it is, the less we've got to practice. I think that's what will put us over the edge this year."
The intensity shown by the Warriors this week preparing for the national tournament was evident enough to their head coach. According to Dewey, Indian Hills is right on schedule to be at their best heading into this year's national tournament.
"We were actually supposed to have a practice right before we took off (on Saturday morning)," Dewey said. "The guys showed me everything I needed to see on Friday. It was a battle out there. We actually had to cut practice short because of how hard the guys were getting after it. The intensity level and mental engagement is definitely there. I feel like we're ready to go."
The Warriors will need to be ready to go against a Vincennes team that ended the season ranked sixth in the national poll and appeared well on their way to joining Indian Hills as one of the top eight teams in the national tournament with a 26-3 record entering postseason play. Kaskaskia, however, stunned the top-seeded Trailblazers in the quarterfinals of the Region 24 tournament ultimately leaving Vincennes hoping for an at-large berth to extend their record run of 12 national tournament appearances in the past 13 years.
The Trailblazers, armed with a second life after receiving at at-large national tournament bid, got 18 points from Region 24's Player of the Year Lebron Thomas in Saturday night's win over Three Rivers. Michael Cooper came off the bench to add 14 points for Vincennes while Travelle Bryson added 10 points as Vincennes (27-4) gave the Warriors something of a glimpse of themselves using balanced offense and stellar defense to put away a top-quality opponent.
Of course, the way the Warriors practice, the toughest opponent all season for Indian Hills might be Indian Hills itself.
"We try to replicate how every game is going to be," Indian Hills sophomore Amonte Allen-Johnson said. "We know that we're going to be facing a physical team, so we put ourselves through a physical practice. It got us in game shape. It got us game ready."
If history is any indication, the Warriors could be in for another postseason nailbitter after pulling out a 70-66 win at No. 22 Dawson in the North Central District final back on Mar. 15. Vincennes has won five of the nine meetings all time with five of the nine meetings being decided by less than 10 points, including last season's 80-75 win earned by Indian Hills last December in the most recent meeting between the proud programs.
Of course, facing top programs is nothing new for the Warriors this season. Indian Hills has played six games against five fellow national tournament qualifiers, going 4-2 in those contests including a 76-62 win over the same Frank Phillips team that IHCC may face on Wednesday in the national quarterfinals should both teams win their second-round contests as well as a 93-88 loss to Snow, the top-ranked team in the country and the favorite going in to win the 2025 national championship.
"Snow got us in that game, but we feel pretty confident," Amonte-Johnson said. "I think our defense is our identity. We feel like we and lock teams up and make other teams miss shots. That game at Dawson was tough. They were used to scoring 100 points and they only got to 66 against us. We put on a good defensive show. I think we can do it throughout the national tournament."
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